In case you missed it, AIDS2014 took over Melbourne and electrified it for a week (and the days surrounding it).

Daniel was asked by the Youth Pavilion organisers to do a Beyond Priscilla reading, as well as to talk about some of the challenges facing young LGBTI people in rural communities, and what they are doing in response.

Whilst there, Daniel took time to catch up with friends he hadn’t seen for a number of years (back when he was travelling the world with The Global Alliance for LGBT Education).

Daniel travelled to the outskirts of Melbourne, dropping in on a combined class at an alternative school run by the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Local teacher, Kellie Frisco, invited Daniel to deliver a Beyond ‘That’s So Gay!’ workshop to a group of students and enthusiastic teachers.

Picking up where they left off in 2011 and 2012, Australian Marriage Equality have asked Daniel to partner them in delivering Marriage Equality workshops across regional and rural electorates. Designed to help locals develop their stories and challenging homophobia skills, the workshops see an upswing in locals telling their stories to their local MP and media outlets.

Daniel took time to go to Scouting Victoria’s Braybrook office to address Venturer Leaders from across Western and Central Victoria, encouraging them to think about what they were currently doing to support LGBTI young people and to challenge homophobia.

Great discussion and a lively Q&A session followed, partly due to the Regional Coordinator, a high school friend of Daniel’s, revealed how he came out to her during his final year of school.

In early July Daniel travelled to his hometown of Geelong, joining the PFLAG Geelong group for one of their monthly meetings. He took the time to read from Beyond Priscilla, with snippets also from his first book, Beyond ‘That’s So Gay!’.

The local media were interested in this trip home, with Daniel appearing in both The Geelong Advertiser and The Geelong News.

To mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), Daniel travelled to Shepparton to launch the ‘oi!’ rural challenging homophobia campaign, including a live cross to JOY94.9FM’s Saturday Magazine program.

A little bit of LGBTI history took place when Bent TV (Channel 31) presented the YourStory LGBTI series on their ‘In The Thick Of It’ program. The YourStory team were quite emotional to see all of that hard work on the small screen.

It’s possibly the only time you’ll ever see Daniel Witthaus’ name above Christos Tsiolkas’ on a Top Seller list, yet that happened on Hares & Hyenas’ Top Seller List. Thanks to Crusader, Roland and the team for all their support.